An NFT-based cockfighting game that’s been in development for a year has been unceremoniously canned (thanks, Kotaku). Or in the words of its developers Irreverent Labs, entered “indefinite hibernation”. The game would have starred ‘mechabots’: Robotic chickens that were being sold as NFTs to verify each chicken’s uniqueness. It was intended as a so-called “play-to-earn” game where players would level the chickens and theoretically sell them on at a higher price. I’m not making this up.
This hype video shows the production values weren’t too bad, though as soon as the fighting starts it’s pretty clear this wouldn’t have been a good game. But then the game’s cancellation is probably the least bizarre thing about this whole story. The studio behind the game has one of the most irritating websites I’ve ever used and has pivoted away from NFTs onto a new area of focus: AI. That may seem like swapping one grift for another, but it’s even more astonishing in the light of the fact it raised $40 million in private funding to make MechaFightClub, disclosed in an SEC filing.
At least some of the cash still remains. The one silver lining for fans of M…